Archive for September 2009

As global leaders convene in New York City for UN climate change talks and the Clinton Global Initiative, the world is in greater peril than ever. But we also have unprecedented opportunities to build a sustainable future. While technology continues to improve the standard of living for millions, there are still millions more living in [...]

WASHINGTON: One cannot open a newspaper without reading the word globalization, yet vast areas of the world are left out of a globalized network for a simple reason: lack of electricity. Denied power, rural communities continue to remain isolated, mired in poverty, deprived of the potential for economic development and modern social services. The quest [...]

Seville, 23 September 2009 – Their Majesties, Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía, today presided over the inauguration of Abengoa’s PS20 solar plant, the largest commercial solar tower plant in the world, located at the Solúcar Platform in Sanlúcar la Mayor, Seville. The event was attended by the President of the Regional Government of Andalusia, [...]

WASHINGTON, September 15, 2009 – Developing countries can shift to lower-carbon paths while promoting development and reducing poverty, but this depends on financial and technical assistance from high-income countries, says a new World Bank report released today. High-income countries also need to act quickly to reduce their carbon footprints and boost development of alternative energy [...]

Schneider Electric announces the creation of a global socially responsible venture capital fund called Schneider Electric Energy Access, with an initial capital of €3 million. The fund’s mission is to support the development of entrepreneurial initiatives worldwide that will help the poorest among us obtain access to energy. Created with the backing of Crédit Coopératif, [...]

Written by Philip Proefrock on 09/21/09 The energy company Statoil has begun operation of the first full-size Hywind floating wind turbine at a location 10 kilometers off the Norwegian coast. What is remarkable about this turbine is that is is floating in the water, rather than being rigidly attached to the ocean floor. Everyone who [...]

NEW HAVEN, W.Va. — Poking out of the ground near the smokestacks of the Mountaineer power plant here are two wells that look much like those that draw natural gas to the surface. But these are about to do something new: inject a power plant’s carbon dioxide into the earth. A behemoth built in 1980, [...]

The production of biofuels from algae gained new prominence this summer when ExxonMobil announced that it will invest up to $600 million in the technology. ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI) formed a research and development alliance in July to explore the production of biofuels from photosynthetic algae. Photosynthetic algae—such as single-celled “microalgae” and blue-green [...]